CE 524N/CE 523E – Special Topics in Civil Engineering

Problem set no. 5

Situation 1: An open tank has a square base of 1.82 m by 1.82 m. It weighs 3,425 N and contains 0.91 m of water.
It is acted upon by an unbalanced force of 10,400 N parallel to a pair of sides.
1. Find the acceleration (m/s2) when it is acted upon by the unbalanced force.
[a]3.09 [b]1.28 [c] 0.98 [d]2.67 [e] None

2. Find the corresponding force (N) acting on the side of the tank with the smallest depth of water when it
is acted upon by the unbalanced force.
[a]1,907 [b]25,891 [c] 2,298 [d] 3,465 [e] None

Situation 2: A wooden block (Sg = 0.85) is 75 mm x 75 mm x 4 m long is made to float in sea water (Sg = 1.2). See
Figure 1.
3. Find the buoyant force (N) of the wood.
[a] 0.23 [b]0.04 [c]1.12 [d]2.80 [e] None

4. How many kN of Steel (Sg = 7.2) should be attached to the bottom of the block to make the wooden block
float with exactly 0.55 m exposed above the sea water surface?
[a] 0.008 [b]0.78 [c]0.29 [d]0.05 [e] None

5. Find the total volume (m3) of the steel.

[a] 0.002 [b]0.095 [c]0.0007 [d]0.00002 [e] None

Situation 3: The diving bell has the shape of a frustum of a cone with a closed top and open bottom. It is
lowered from the outside air into salt water (unit weight = 10.2 kN/m3) in an upright position. Consider
atmospheric pressure. See Figure 2. When the water level has risen 1.20 m inside, find the following
6. Final volume (cubic meters)
[a] 51.2 [b] 32.8 [c]27.4 [d] 48.9 [e] None

7. Final pressure (kPa)

[a] 164.8 [b] 119.2 [c]98.3 [d]157.4 [e] None

8. Height “h” (meters) as illustrated on Figure 2

[a] 12.7 [b] 4.4 [c]6.2 [d] 9.2 [e] None

Situation 4: A barge 3 meters deep has a trapezoidal cross section of 9 m top width and and 6 m bottom width. The
barge is 15 m long and its ends are vertical.
9. Determine its weight (kg) if it draws 1.8 m of water
[a]224,760 [b]309,800 [c] 186,300 [d] 95,550 [e] None

10. Then determine the draft (m) if 84,500 kg of stone are placed in the barge
[a]1.2 [b]2.5 [c] 1.8 [d] 0.94 [e] None

Situation 5: An open cylindrical tank 30 cm in diameter and 80 cm high partially filled with water is rotated
about its vertical axis at a speed of 240 rpm.
11. What would be the depth (meters) of water in the tank if the cylindrical tank is brought to rest so that
no water will be spilled out? The water just touches the rim of the tank during rotation.
[a]0.96 [b]0.72 [c] 0.44 [d]0.52 [e] None

12. At what speed (rpm) would it be rotated so that 1.4 liters of water will be spilled out?
[a]198 [b]246 [c] 92 [d]128 [e] None

13. At what speed (rpm) would it be rotated so that the pressure at the center of the bottom of the tank is
zero and water just touches the rim of the tank during rotation?
[a]252 [b]469 [c] 803 [d]673 [e] None
Situation 6: A pressure at a certain point below the ocean is 60 kPa. SG = 1.03. Neglect atmospheric pressure.
14. Find the pressure 27 meters below this particular point.
[a]325 [b]222 [c] 333 [d] 434 [e] None

Situation 7: The radius of the tube is 1 mm. The surface tension of water is 0.0728 N/m. Use angle contact of
water is 0°. Unit weight of water is 9,810 N/m3.
15. Find the capillary rise (mm) in the tube.
[a]27.9 [b]14.8 [c] 9.2 [d]31.5 [e] None

Situation 8: Reservoir A supplies water of 415 liters/sec to Reservoir B and Reservoir C. The properties of the
pipes are shown in the table. Reservoir C receives 387 liters/sec. Neglect minor losses. See Figure 3.

Pipe no. Length (m) Diameter (mm) f

1 ? 700 0.045
2 1960 650 0.05
3 4300 550 0.035
4 4500 500 0.015

16. Find the head loss in pipe 4 (m)

[a]35.60 [b] 17.88 [c]26.72 [d] 12.90 [e] None

17. Find the length of pipe 1 (m)

[a]509 [b] 892 [c]673 [d] 738 [e] None

18. Find head loss in pipe 3 (m)

[a]1.06 [b]0.19 [c]0.008 [d] 0.85 [e] None

19. Find the elevation of reservoir B (m)

[a]58.9 [b] 75.5 [c]44.5 [d] 80.2 [e] None

Situation 9: A trapezoidal canal (n = 0.032) with it sides sloped at 2 horizontal to 1 vertical, carries water at
the rate of 6.25 m^3/s. It has a slope of 27 cm per km. Use Manning’s formula.

20. Determine the bottom width (meters) of the canal for a most efficient section.
[a] 0.490 [b]0.75 [c]1.04 [d] 2.21 [e] None

21. Determine the velocity (m/sec)

[a] 0.54 [b]0.95 [c]0.008 [d] 0.23 [e] None

Situation 10: A rectangular barge weighing 200,000 kg is 14 m long, 8 meters wide and 4.5 meters deep. It will
transport reinforcing steel bars that are 20 mm in diameter and 6 meters long. Use density of salt water =
1,026 kg/m3. Steel weighs 7,850 kg/m3.

22. If a draft (submerged depth of the barge) is to be maintained at 3 meters, how many pieces of rebars can
it carry?
[a]5,773 [b] 1,045 [c]6,732 [d] 9,786 [e] None

23. What is the draft of the barge when one half of its cargo is unloaded in fresh water?
[a]2.43 [b] 1.05 [c]0.92 [d] 0.57 [e] None

Situation 11: An open cylinder 30 cm in diameter and 80 cm high containing water is rotated about its vertical
axis at a speed of 240 revolutions per minute.

24. If the cylinder is brought to rest now, what would be the depth (cm) of water in it?
[a]32 [b] 44 [c]56 [d] 27 [e] None

25. If the speed is increased to 300 revolutions per minute, how much water will be left in the cylinder in
liters?
[a]19.8 [b] 27.5 [c]87.5 [d] 42.5 [e] None

Situation 12: A dam is triangular in cross section with the upstream face vertical. Height of the dam is 8 m.
Height of the water is also 8 m. The dam is 4 m wide at the base. The water is on the vertical face of the dam.
The coefficient of friction between the base and the foundation is 0.80.

26. Find the factor of safety against overturning

[a]2.70 [b] 4.7 [c]1.07 [d] 0.57 [e] None

27. Find the factor of safety against sliding

 [a]3.49 [b] 2.81 [c]1.44 [d] 0.97 [e] None

Situation 13: A rectangular flume, 4.2 m wide by 2.8 m deep, discharges 12.76 m3/sec. Assume the same material
had been used for a trapezoidal section having the same perimeter and side slopes of 4 horizontal to 5 vertical.
Use n = 0.055.

28. Find the bottom width (meters) for an efficient section

[a]7.45 [b] 15.90 [c]18.40 [d] 10.81 [e] None

29. Find the hydraulic radius for an efficient section

[a]0.20 [b] 1.70 [c]0.55 [d] 1.08 [e] None

30. Find the discharge (m3/sec) for an efficient section

[a]1.57 [b] 0.65 [c]3.45 [d] 2.85 [e] None

Situation 14: Water is transferred from tank A towards tank B. Both tanks are pressurized. Tank A has a pressure
of 75 kPa while tank B has a pressure of 50 kPa. Assume unit weight of water is 9.81 kN/m3. Assume velocities of
flow within the tanks are negligible. The head loss equation is given by: HL = (0.058)(L/D)(V2/2g)See Figure 4.

31. If the diameter of the pipe is 50 times its length, find the velocity of flow within the pipes.
[a]11.63 [b] 10.57 [c]14.48 [d] 9.21 [e] None

32. Find the head loss of the system

[a]12.55 [b] 16.5 [c]20 [d] 31 [e] None

Situation 15: Two pipes are connected in series. The flow of water in the pipes is 0.15 m3/s with a total head
loss of 22 m. Use f = 0.02. See Figure 5.

33. Find the diameter of pipe 2

[a]0.25 [b] 0.37 [c]0.46 [d]0.51 [e] None

34. Find the head loss of pipe 2

[a]0.02 [b] 0.15 [c]0.45 [d] 0.75 [e] None

Situation 16: Gate ABC is a quarter circle 12 ft wide into the paper. See Figure 6.

35. Compute the horizontal hydrostatic force (lbs) on the gate

[a]5,763 [b] 12,975 [c]4,908 [d]20,892 [e] None

36. Compute the vertical hydrostatic force (lbs) on the gate

[a]1,097 [b] 32,095 [c]3,707 [d] 17,884 [e] None
 Figure 4

Figure 1

Figure 5

Figure 2

Figure 3
Figure 6